Boston Marathon: An Amazing 26.2 Miles

To professional runners, the Boston Marathon is a race they look forward to. But to most of the thousands of runners who compete in this race, it is an accomplishment they can say they did.

On April 20, Patriots Day, the Boston Marathon took place on a beautiful Monday morning. Thousands of runners gathered together to run 26.2 miles. Living in the Boston area, I was able to go to the marathon and support all of the runners who ran the race.

The people in the race really get into it, making the most of their run; which for most takes about four hours. The costumes some people wear while running are ridiculously funny. I saw several Batman’s and one man dressed like a woman. But the best thing I saw was a man running in red crocs. As he ran by, I thought to myself, “How could he possibly be running such a long distance in such awkward shoes?”

Winning the marathon for the women was the magnificent Salina Kosgei from Kenya running 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 16 seconds. Winning on the men’s side was the excellent Deriba Merga from Ethiopia, running 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 42 seconds. These runners clearly trained a lot for that big day! The Boston Marathon is one of the hardest marathons out there, so winning it is a huge success.

Something that gave me motivation to write about the Boston Marathon was that five of my friends ran 6.5 miles of it.

My friends put a tremendous amount of effort into running these miles, helping raise money for our Marathon School Fund (from left to right in the photo: Sarah R., Mackenzie T., Diana K., Savannah H., and Rachel Lea F.). I asked them some questions about their amazing run:

Q: What was the most exciting part of running the marathon?
Rachel Lea: Probably all of the people in the crowd cheering me on, and all of the children holding orange slices and giving all of us high fives.

Q: What was the most unexpected thing that happened during the marathon?
Savannah: Finishing it! Right before we started, we were all talking and I hadn’t really practiced running 6.5 miles before. The other people I was running with had already ran. So I think when I finished I was really surprised because I kept telling my self that I couldn’t do it.

Q: Will you run the marathon next year, why or why not?
Diana: Yes, and I think we're all going to run half next year. It was just a really fun experience being part of such a big event and training for it with friends.

Q: How did you concentrate when running?
Sarah: I think what kept me concentrated was all of the people cheering on the side of the road. They made me want to keep moving, and gave me the drive to finish even when I was tired.

As you can see, even five 13- and 14-year-old girls can run part of a marathon. When you think about it, if you set your mind to a goal, anything is possible.

Well that’s all for today guys. Everyone should think about running the Boston Marathon next year. People from all around the world travel to one of the best cities in the United States to run what is known as one of the hardest marathons in the world.

And on a totally different note, anyone see the Red Sox-Yankees series last weekend? Well, it’s pretty safe to say that even with a new bullpen and all-star players, the curse is reversed, and it’s that way for good.